Welcome back to another midweek slate. We were backdoor covered a record amount of times last week. Thank you to the Henny Lock’s via twitter, we made it out up one unit. To the people asking me why I tweeted out the Henny Locks instead of putting them into the blogs. Basketball lines are set usually 24 hours before the game. In these early season tournaments some lines don’t actually come out until just a few hours before tip off.

Sadly there is no MACtion on this week’s midweek slate. There is only college basketball due to the Western Kentucky and Charlotte game being cancelled. The Maui Invitational in Asheville, North Carolina started today. I have mixed emotions about this tournament being moved from Hawaii to North Carolina. The traditions are gone, but it also means we have games being played all day. So you will have games to watch from noon eastern to midnight every night this week. All the Bill Walton you can handle. If you don’t know what I mean by that, then tune in to the Maui Invitational games. Bill Walton is the Gary Busey of professional sports. He is a legend in the game of basketball who turned into a huge Dead Head hippy. He gave us beautiful quotes all day today. I will give you a couple for example. In the first game he was talking about a freshman guard and said “He is playing very well. I love watching him play. This may be the best game of his career so far”. His broadcasting partner just laughed and said “well that’s because it is only the second game of his career”. Then in the afternoon game he went on a five minute spiel about how Asheville has a secret shrooms club, where a bunch of hippies hike in the mountains and trip balls.

Moving on we have some great games these next two days and here are my picks. I am just doing the ones with a spread already listed. So if it looks like I am missing some big games, follow me on twitter.

Texas (-3) @ Indiana

Shaka Smart with hair is weird. I am used to seeing that bald head lead mid majors like VCU to sweet sixteen appearances. For those of you that saw Texas play Davidson this afternoon, you saw how fraudulent that team is. They are ranked 17th in the country, yet can’t even hit their free throws. Indiana on the other hand made Providence look like a freshman high school team. I like IU on this one.

USC (-1) @ BYU

This game will be a close one. USC has the skill players while BYU has the size and experience. Matt Harms may be injured for BYU this game. If that is the case, I can see where missing his 7,3 presence could be an issue. I can see the Mobley brothers taking control of this game in the final seconds. Im giving the edge to USC.

St. Francis @ Virginia (-22.5)

Virginia was upset by San Francisco in their last game. You know what San Francisco translates to in English…? That’s right, St. Francis! San Fran lost to Umass Lowell to start the season, while St. Francis lost to UMBC. I know what everyone is thinking. The America East is a sleeper powerhouse conference. Those who follow the America East as much as I do (former team manager for UNH), know UMBC is a much better team than UMass Lowell. Don’t get me wrong Virginia is still winning this game. There is no way they can lose back to back to mid-majors. I just don’t think they will win by more than 22.

Bryant @ New Hampshire (-5.5)

Might as well stay on the America East while we are here. My Alma Mater UNH is taking on the Bryant Bulldogs. A classic Cats vs Dogs game. Fun fact: if fans were allowed at this game, UNH would be doing Dollar hot dogs as a promotion. They do it for every game against a team with a dog as a mascot. Which may not be the best idea because it seems like we are always facing some time of dog whether it is the Bulldogs, Great Danes (Albany), Golden Retrievers (UMBC), SeaWolves (Stony Brook), or Terriers (BU). Back to the game. Bryant actually only lost to Syracuse by 1 point in their season opener. UNH has only played a D3 school. Which they did not get off to a great start and only won by 39. I think this will be another close game. If UNH were to win it would only be by a couple points. For that reason I am taking Bryant with the points here.

Oklahoma State @ Marquette (-4)

Both of these teams have only played bottom tier programs that non of us have ever heard of. Well, unless you live in Texas or Illinois. This game can really go either way. It is all going to come down to momentum. Marquette is averaging more rebounds and a higher field goal percentage. That is the only reason I am leaning towards the Golden Eagles here.

Michigan State @ Duke (-5)

I am not a fan of either of these schools, but I hate Duke. I am only taking Michigan State here because they have already have played a decent team in Notre Dame, while Duke only won by 10 to Coppin State. Duke won this game last year, so I am hopping that this is the year for the Spartans.

Kentucky @ Kansas (-3.5)

Kentucky lost to a great Richmond team. Those who seriously follow college basketball knew how good the spiders were coming into this season. When Kentucky got upset by them, I was not surprised in the least. Kansas on the other hand lost to the #1 team in the nation by 12. Kansas is shooting an impressive 52% on the year, but they are struggling in the rebounding department. Kentucky has a slight height advantage in all areas, especially having 7 foot Center Olivier Sarr from France. If Kansas is consistent with making their shots, they will win this game. If not then it will be a lot closer than expected. I want to take Kentucky just because of fellow Masshole Terrence Clark, but I don’t think I can. I am going with Kansas money line here.

The Henny Lock:

The Henny Lock is finally back in the green after my last couple of picks via twitter. If you want to be partying in the Henn House and be a true member of the “Henny’s Disciples”, you have to follow me on twitter. The game I want to pick for the lock is on Wednesday which the spread has yet to be set. Follow me on twitter to get that pick Wednesday morning.

Twitter: Matt_Hennigan22